Near Oregon Coast Range, Gargantuan Spruce Goose Relisted in National Register

Published 11/20/24 at 7:07 a.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(McMinnville, Oregon) – En Route to the central Oregon coast if you're coming from Portland, you'll often notice a massive building just off the highway – a giant triangle of sorts. With those enormous panes of glass, it's impossible to not see what's inside. (Courtesy photo)

That behemoth of a plane is called the Spruce Goose, and it's been in Oregon since the '90s. It's a historic chunk of aviation history that's just about as famous for what it didn't do as much as who and what created it. Built in 1942, it remains the largest seaplane ever at 218 feet long.

Yet only now is it on the National Register of Historic Places. Well, it's back on the list after getting de-listed back in 1992.

The Spruce Goose is located at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville.

Oregon State Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD) made the announcement last week.

“Oregon’s State Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation recommended the property’s nomination at their October 2023 meeting,” OPRD said. “The National Park Service—which maintains the National Register—accepted the nomination on October 15, 2024.”

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The Spruce Goose is its nickname, officially known as the Hughes Flying Boat (H-4 Hercules). The rig is nationally significant for being created by Howard R. Hughes, Jr. (and industrialist Henry Kaiser of Kaiser Permanente fame). Hughes was one of the most influential people in American aviation – ever. While Hughes the billionaire was in later years better known for his wild eccentricities, during Wold War II he assisted the U.S. military in numerous ways, including this unique aircraft.

Courtesy photo

The Hughes Flying Boat only flew one time and even then for just 30 seconds, getting 25 feet off the water, making history on November 2, 1947. Yet that aircraft was an integral testing and research platform for engineering systems that became standard in aircraft after the war.

“From 1947 until 1953, the aircraft served as a testbed for a variety of aviation innovations, including the application of Duramold wood composite in large aircraft construction, redundant fire suppression and flight control systems,” OPRD said.

The Hughes Flying Boat remains the largest propeller-drive aircraft ever built as well as the largest plane made of wood.

After the famed test flight, it sat in a hangar in Long Beach, California for decades. Hughes even hoped to fly it once again, but that never happened. In 1980, it was put on the National Register of Historic Places the first time, then put on display in California. In '92, it was dissembled and brought to McMinnville.

Courtesy photo

“But because it was moved to Oregon without prior NPS approval, it was automatically delisted,” OPRD said. “In 2001, the aircraft was reassembled and today it is the centerpiece of the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum.”

These days, just miles from the foothills of the Oregon Coast Range, the Hughes Flying Boat (H-4 Hercules) is the only individually listed aircraft in Oregon. The Museum is at 500 NE Captain Michael King Smith Way, McMinnville, Oregon. (503) 434-4180. https://www.evergreenmuseum.org/exhibit/the-spruce-goose/

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Andre' GW Hagestedt is editor, owner and primary photographer / videographer of Oregon Coast Beach Connection, an online publication that sees over 1 million pageviews per month. He is also author of several books about the coast.

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